The Charge

"I guess it's because we all want to believe that what we do is
important, that people hang on our every word, that they care what we think. But
the truth is, you should consider yourself lucky if you even occasionally get to
make someone, anyone, feel a little better." —J.D. (Zach
Braff), from "My Finale"

Opening Statement

After eight seasons, one network change and hundreds of fantasy sequences,
Scrubs says goodbye. Sort of. But not really.

Facts of the Case

Here are the 19 episodes that make up Scrubs: The Complete Eighth
Season:

• "My Jerks" A new crop of interns arrives at
Sacred Heart, as does a new chief of medicine (guest star Courtney Cox,
Friends) who seems nice but may be hiding some secret evil. Elliot (Sarah
Chalke, Chaos Theory) realizes she may
have hurt ex-fiance Keith.

• "My Last Words" J.D. (Zach Braff, Garden State) and Turk's (Donald Faison, Clueless) traditional "steak
night" is interrupted when the pair decides to spend the evening with a
terminally ill patient (Glynn Turman, Aliens) who may not have long.

• "My Cookie Pants" Elliot frets over her newly
rekindled romance; J.D. continues trying to instill compassion in Denise; a new
chief of medicine is chosen.

• "My New Role" Dr. Cox struggles with his new
position at Sacred Heart.

• "My Lawyer's in Love" Ted (Sam Lloyd, Galaxy Quest) falls for a musician (Kate
Micucci, Bart Got a Room); Cox continues
to struggle in his new role and clash with lazy intern Ed.

• "My Absence" Elliot misses J.D. on his day
off, so she spends the day with him on the phone; Carla and Turk get some
exciting news, but have different approaches to sharing it.

• "My Comedy Show" J.D. and Turk attempt to
direct the interns in the annual Sacred Heart sketch show and find out how the
staff sees their friendship; Elliot tries to get Denise to go out more.

• "My Nah Nah Nah" Turk considers an
experimental procedure for one of his patients; Janitor (Neil Flynn, Mean Girls) worries about the future of
his relationship with his girlfriend Lady.

• "Their Story II" In an episode told from the
perspective of the interns, J.D. takes over for Dr. Cox in clashing with the
chief of medicine; a cocky new intern becomes a hit with the female staff.

• "My Full Moon" Sacred Heart gets hit with
patients on the night of a full moon, with mostly the interns around to take
care of things; Elliot questions her future in medicine after having to give a
patient some terrible news.

• "My Soul On Fire, Part 1; My Soul on Fire, Part 2"
The gang heads off to the Bahamas for the wedding of Janitor and Lady,
but everyone's got their own romantic crises to deal with: Elliot and J.D. have
different ideas of romance, while Turk feels like the spark is gone from his
love life with Carla.

• "My Cuz" J.D. makes up with ex Kim (guest star
Elizabeth Banks, Zack and Miri Make a
Porno) only to find she's taken up with a familiar face; Turk lobbies for
the chief of surgery opening at Sacred Heart.

• "My Chief Concern" J.D. considers a big
change; Turk settles in to his new role; Ted and girlfriend Gooch take their
relationship to another level.

• "My Finale" The eighth season—and this
entire incarnation of Scrubs—wraps up with an important staff
member leaving Sacred Heart.

The Evidence

It's nice to have Scrubs back. Having been jacked around by NBC for
most of its run (multiple time slot changes, an overall lack of promotion and
basically relegating the series to a mid-season replacement), Scrubs
looked like it was ending its run after seven seasons—until, lo and
behold, ABC swept in and gave it a stay of execution. For fans of the show, it's
a good thing they did; after a pretty rocky Season Seven in which the show lost
its way (the show's creator, Bill Lawrence, admits as much), Season Eight sees
Scrubs returning to what made it such an entertaining show in the first
place.

Scrubs was never a perfect show, but it has in the span of eight
years garnered a fervent fan following. I'm proud to say that I'm part of that
following, mostly because I've always admired the delicate balance (and
sometimes not-so-delicate) of comedy and drama that the series was able to pull
off in its best moments. For all its broad humor and flights of fancy,
Scrubs had the potential to be truly moving at times. I've also always
appreciated that the show had its own unique voice, distinguishing itself from
the dozens of other half-hour sitcoms on the air (at least, when it began; eight
years later, the sitcom is an endangered species). In later years, the show
became more and more problematic, indulging some of its worst comic tendencies
and going way too broad. Zach Braff went from quirky, atypical leading man to
shamelessly mugging laugh whore; in fact, most of the characters lost some of
their shades of grey and became caricatures of themselves. Plus, so many other
medical dramas eventually hit the air and borrowed from Scrubs that the
formula it created began to seem like a rip-off of other series (a fact that the
show calls attention to, which I like); nowadays, the episode-ending montage
accompanied by voiceover and a cool indie rock song has become a cliche. That's
not the fault of Scrubs, as it essentially invented the conceit, but it
affects the way we see the show in later seasons.

Scrubs: The Complete Eighth Season still has major flaws that keep it
from being the show it once was. For one, there were scheduling issues that kept
cast members from appearing in every episode; the result is that many of the
shows play mix-n-match with the cast—you'll get a show that's all Turk and
Elliot and no one else, or another show that features almost everyone but Zach
Braff. Since the ensemble was always one of Scubs' strongest suits,
breaking them up the way Season Eight wounds the series at its core. It's not a
complete deal breaker—there are enough episodes that feature everyone and
even those that don't are still pretty entertaining—but it does give one
the overall impression that the season is a bit patchwork and that the show may
be on its last legs.

The addition of new interns is both the season's masterstroke and one of its
bigger detriments. Not all of the actors cast as interns are as likable as the
original cast, and some begin as such cartoons that they've got no place to go
(it took the series regulars several seasons to become caricatures). At times,
their crises feel shoehorned in as a way to create drama; do any of us really
care if Denise agrees to go out with the staff? I suppose it gives the
characters another chance to say something along the lines of "this place
will eat you alive," but it's a somewhat underdeveloped dramatic conceit,
to say the least. Still, I like how the inclusion of the interns allows Season
Eight to come full circle, with the original staff now acting as the teachers
and passing on the wisdom of their own mistakes. I appreciate that Bill Lawrence
and company didn't create obvious character proxies, too; we don't get the
"J.D. type," the "Elliot type," blah blah blah. And, in the
few episodes he appears on (before being lost to Parks and Recreation),
Aziz Ansari steals every scene he's in. The first few shows of the season, when
both Ansari and guest star Courtney Cox appear, are some of the best.

The 19 episodes making up Scrubs: The Complete Eighth Season are
spread out over three discs (in a single keepcase, not the cardboard packaging
of the first six seasons—I hate it when they don't all match, largely
because I need medication. The episodes are presented in their full frame TV
aspect ratio and look bright and clean—as good if not better than they do
in original broadcast. The 5.1 audio track does a fine job balancing the
dialogue, cartoony sound effects and the inevitable indie song that closes out
each show. The Scrubs DVD sets have always been dependably sound, and
this one is no different.

As usual, there's a decent amount of extras accompanying the episodes to
help round out the package for fans. Though this is the final season of this
incarnation of the show, the Scrubs team hasn't really pulled out the
stops for this DVD; it's comparable to other season sets in terms of bonus
material. Showrunner Bill Lawrence sits down for a handful of commentaries with
various guests (including Zach Braff), and his talks are informative; he points
out the obstacles they had with this season (scheduling conflicts, shows being
aired out of order) and what it was like to be at a new network. Lawrence is a
very honest and outspoken guy, meaning he's not above taking shots at other
shows or NBC when it's called for. Not only is that candidness really
entertaining at times, but also positively refreshing in a medium where people
aren't known for speaking their minds.

The third disc contains the remainder of the bonus features. There are 12
webisodes featuring the new cast of interns, designed as a way of introducing
and ingratiating the new faces with Scrubs viewers. They are, however,
pretty disposable; I don't mind the interns on the show, but I'm not going out
of my way to see them in their own environment—though a few series
regulars, such as Zach Braff and Judy Reyes, do appear. There are some deleted
scenes and alternate jokes, many of which are pretty funny—more so than
the very disappointing blooper reel that's also included. Finally, there's a
short featurette called "My Bahama Vacation," shot while the cast was
filming the "My Soul On Fire" two-parter.

Closing Statement

Despite the fitting sendoff given to Scrubs, ABC has renewed the
series for another season, this one to focus on the interns (including
Denise/Jo) with only Dr. Cox and Turk returning as regulars to play mentor to
the new staff. This, to me, sounds a bit like Saved by the Bell: The New
Class, with Cox as Mr. Belding and Turk as his Screech, but I'll remain
cautiously optimistic (despite the fact that showrunner Bill Lawrence will now
be pulling double-duty between Scrubs and his new series Cougar
Town). Even if the new Scrubs is a big failure, I'll still have the
original eight seasons on DVD. The Complete Eighth Season may be the best
way for us all to remember a show that occasionally made us feel a little
better.